Bermuda reinsurer RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. has struck up an unlikely partnership with Walt Disney to set up a theme-park attraction aimed at showing visitors what it's like to be caught up in a hurricane.

"StormStruck: The Tale of Two Homes" is scheduled to open at Epcot, part of the Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, by the late summer.

RenRe and its US affiliate WeatherPredict Consulting Inc. yesterday announced their partnership with the non-profit Federal Alliance for Safe Homes, Inc. (FLASH), insurance company State Farm and Simpson Strong-Tieto launch the attraction.

A statement from RenRe said StormStruck "will combine experiencing what it feels like to be in severe weather with learning about the associated risks and ways to protect the home in an interactive and entertaining setting".

Visitors will experience special effects simulating a hurricane and added to that will be an educational component to raise awareness about the latest risk mitigation research. More details will be released in future.

Neill Currie, chief executive officer of RenaissanceRe, said: "Understanding severe atmospheric hazards and vulnerability has been central to our business since our founding.

"It has been a natural extension of our philosophy, over time, to increase our focus on developing loss mitigation technologies, not only to reduce the severity of the financial impact of storms on our clients, but ultimately to enable people to make themselves, their families and their businesses safer.

"We are delighted to join forces with our partners in the StormStruck experience to share important information on how to protect communities from severe weather storms."

RenRe has been involved in some of the latest hurricane impact research, through WeatherPredict's Wall of Wind, a bank of powerful fans that can produce a blast of air replicating hurricane winds.

Last year, the ground-breaking "RenaissanceRe Wall of Wind" testing facility was launched, in partnership with the International Hurricane Research Centre at Florida International University.

This full-scale testing technology is capable of generating hurricane-force winds, gust effects and rain to test buildings and provide valuable scientific data.

The information it provides has already contributed to more hurricane-resistant construction techniques that could help to save lives and reduce damage - and therefore insurance claims - from future storms.

RenRe is working with the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania on economic analyses of various risk mitigation techniques, and, later this month, in conjunction with FLASH and the Institute for Business and Home Safety, WeatherPredict Consulting will be hosting the first ever Hurricane Risk Mitigation Leadership Forum in Orlando, bringing together leading academics, scientists, practitioners and policy-makers.